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Hakka village

22 Nov 2013 — The Hakka villagers mainly settled in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan in a village called Kampung Attap are today labelled as "squatters" and "illegals" are awaiting time to be completely evicted off the land which they have called home for over a 100 years. Now known as Kampong Hakka or Hakka Village, these villagers, most of whom have already evicted the land were known to have been given a Temporary Operating License (TOL) by the Seremban Land Office and have also been paying quit rent to the local municipality to date. Most of the members of this community arrived from the Hui Zhou province in China around the 1860's to be employed in the tin mining sector during the British colonialisation. Despite just being a temporary abode today, the Hakka community had embodied their neighbourhood with all the architectural elements of old Chinese residences. Above the front door of almost every household, one will be able to notice a wooden plaque clearly identifying the surname of its inhabitants, a feature that has almost vanished from most other residential houses. The village is also believed to have the earliest voluntary fire-fighting corps in the whole country. The Malaysian Insider photographer, Afif Abd Halim travelled to Mantin to record the village as it is now.

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